Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, February 25, 1998

1998-02-25 04:00:00 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- After getting slammed over everything from his presidential motorcades to his infamous Latrell Sprewell comment, Mayor Willie Brown has finally hit on an issue that resonates with the public -- getting traffic moving in San Francisco.

And from what we hear, the order last week to hire 65 new parking-control officers to ticket double-parkers is just the start.

In the next few weeks, the city will also consider:

-- Banning car traffic (as a test) on Market Street between First and Fourth streets during the afternoon rush so Muni buses can get out faster.

-- Shutting down construction along Muni routes during the afternoon commute.

-- Sending out traffic officers in tow trucks for "shotgun" rides through commercial areas, where they would tow cars illegally parked in commercial zones.

-- Cracking down on merchants and others who park in their own loading zones all day, a particular problem in Chinatown.

-- Starting to coordinate street and utility road work to limit its impact on traffic. (Mayor Brown promised this two years ago, and it never got done.)

-- And at least trying to crack down on postal trucks that double-park.

Neither the Department of Parking and Traffic nor the Police Department did handsprings over the mayor's ideas. So Brown picked his own guy -- Stuart Sunshine of the 49ers stadium project -- to make sure the crackdown stays on course.

The reason behind all this is simple. As one City Hall insider pointed out, "They think they have a winner."

Of course, the mayor might also want to have a little talk with his driver about clearing traffic. As one reader messaged us via e- mail: "I noticed that at the last event where both Mayor Brown and I were in attendance, his driver was double-parked on the street outside the event location for the entire hour Mayor Brown was at the event."

THE OTHER ONE: Clogged city streets aren't the only backup that Mayor Brown has ordered fixed posthaste -- he has also demanded that the city start paying its medical bills, which apparently are months in arrears.

According to those in the know, staff cuts and bureaucratic backups have resulted in about 70,000 unpaid medical bills for city workers covered under the city's health plan.

Things are so bad that some doctors are either refusing to see city workers or demanding cash on the spot.

Last week, in response to growing complaints, the mayor had one of his infamous meetings in which, as one person recalled, "he jumped up and down and told them to fix it by next Monday."

As a result, the city's health service department is now processing between 10,000 and 13,000 claims and paying anywhere from 20 percent to 90 percent of their value -- no questions asked.

"They'll go back and audit the claim later to see if it's right or not," a source said.

REILLY'S LOGIC: Lots of calls about the item we ran on political consultant Clint Reilly thinking about running for mayor, with the most frequent question being: "Is he out of his mind?"

The fact is, for years Reilly has toyed with running for mayor -- it's just been a question of when.

As Reilly sees it, waiting until Mayor Brown is termed out means facing a host of squeaky- clean candidates. And with all of his negatives, Reilly figures he'd stick out of that pack like a sore thumb.

On the other hand, if he takes on Brown next year, A) there won't be any other competition and B) in a one-on-one against Brown, he won't look so bad -- in fact, he might even look good.

As for the question of Reilly being in or out of his mind -- well, you can make that call on your own.

CHECKMATE: To hear Contra Costa prosecutors tell it, the judge had little choice but to hand former county Supervisor Gayle Bishop three years of hard time for the high crime of ordering staffers to do legal and campaign work on county time.

Prosecutors had hoped Bishop would simply resign from her supervisor's job when confronted early on with allegations she'd abused her power. That way, the case would simply have gone away.

But what about the probation department's assessment that Bishop "may be somewhat emotionally disturbed" and therefore should have been given probation -- including six months of home detention, community work, a $10,000 fine and mandatory psychotherapy?

Sepulveda said Bishop's lawyers never even suggested she might have a psychological problem.

"One factor of probation is an acknowledgement by the defendant of wrongdoing. How do you rehabilitate someone if they won't admit they did anything wrong?"

Said the prosecutor: "It's tragic and a damn shame it came to this, but she left us with no other option."

Bishop's lawyers predict that the case will be overturned on appeal. One thing is for sure: Her case will probably drag on for an additional two to three years before she is actually shipped off to state prison or cleared.

IN THE CORNER: Maybe she was tired or maybe she was just caught off guard -- whatever the case, Senator Barbara Boxer's campaign swing through Oakland last week was a less-than-stellar performance.

Boxer, on the last leg of a 12- hour kickoff tour, arrived at the Lakeside Club, only to encounter about two dozen hecklers who were waiting to help her "struggle through" her support for President Clinton's threat to bomb Iraq.

And a struggle it was. The group raised the issue repeatedly before getting hustled out of the room.

At that point, to the surprise of everyone, Boxer signaled for the band to start playing, then turned around -- and split.

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